ITIL Unlocked (The Missing Pieces): Deliver Business Value With IT! – Design: Spell Out IT activities From a Demand and Supplier Side

What the reviewers said: “ The “Deliver Business Value with IT” series is an extremely solid piece of work that comes across as the A-Z reference of how to execute and implement IT strategy from a CIO level perspective. The reader will learn robust approaches to deliver services designed to support IT and Business drivers. More

Martin Palmgren is a recognised thought leader and works with business and IT executives on their “IT Value proposition” that is how do we deliver value to the needs of the business and demonstrate that we do so:

“How do our operations and IT systems function for the benefit of the business and our customers?”,

“How do our core systems help / leverage our employees capabilities in their work for customers?”,

“How do we increase performance and reduce cost?”

The ”Deliver Business Value with IT” series focus on how to execute the business strategy supported by IT demonstrate how we do this. Martin is among the few to effectively deploy existing frameworks to pull logics together.

What the reviewers said: “ The “Deliver Business Value with IT” series is an extremely solid piece of work that comes across as the A-Z reference of how to execute and implement IT strategy from a CIO level perspective. The reader will learn robust approaches to deliver services designed to support IT and Business drivers. The perspective that Martin spells out permits an overview of how to leverage existing frameworks but also to effectively support the execution of an IT Strategy aligned with the Business Strategy.”

“The focus that Martin takes in the “Deliver Business Value with IT” series will help in tackling the seven main non-technical challenges any CIO or other senior IT business leaders will face:

1. How and what should I communicate to whom in what way?

2. What to think of when it comes to competences needed to provide my IT services?

3. How to provide the best value at the best cost?

4. What to think of when ensuring efficient and effective delivery of projects?

5. How to establish a sourcing strategy and determining how to manage your vendors?

6. What are the best practices for managing my operations, and what to think of?

7. How can I best scan for and analyse emerging technologies?

The approach taken utilizing basic business management principles and applying them to how to run an IT department are explained clearly, and takes this publication above and beyond the standard publication proclaiming to ‘run IT as a business’. The 2 key trends identified in the publication for the CIO to focus on of “Differentiation” and “Cost” are a perfect example of this.

Mats Hultin, CIO Saab Defence and head of one of the most business centric IT organisations that I have seen consider “Deliver Business Value with IT” series as a toolbox that all CIO’s or IT Executives would like to have at hand and consult on a regular basis as they start to Design, Build and Run Effective IT Strategy execution to business needs.

It is critical to articulate the execution of the Business and subsequently the IT Strategy in to a service strategy. The objective of ITIL is to help IT leaders provide a business view of the IT departments ability to create value and support enterprise goals through effective IT processes and build process capability.

Yet most ITIL practitioners find it difficult to understand, articulate and demonstrate the business value of an end-to-end or partial ITIL investment and more “Frame work” compliance in a setting where most Business Executives would claim an increased focus on the needs of the business (see Why the CMO should not.

The ITIL Unlocked (the missing pieces): Deliver Business Value with IT! series is a reply to “How do we put the IT Strategy in place” and how do we communicate effectively with our stakeholders and provides a number of techniques and tools to understand how to meet stakeholder expectations where ITIL can be used to demonstrate how to consolidate the service strategy (Design, Build, Run).

A demonstration that would cover both the "IT Business Model" that is how well do we provide IT services as well as the "Business (IT) Value Proposition" that is how well do we support the needs of the business.

What is in it for me or why should I read “Deliver Business Value with IT?”

All that you would like to know in regards of Martin Palmgren

What is your current experience with the book topic? As transformation director I have worked both on the Business and IT side with clients but also on the consulting side (Big 6) where I have helped executives understand how to deliver business value with IT. I have also put out a number of books on the subject.

What other business management topics are you interested in? Strategy both on the Business and IT side, Business Model Innovation, competitive analysis, IT Governance (COBIT 5), IT Sourcing, Cloud Computing, Strategy Execution, Balanced Scorecard

Why do you think you would be best suited to write this book? The logics that I provide are international best in class and build on top notch best practice that I use and have used on an IT and Business Executive level.

Where do you/your customers normally turn for information about or solutions to business problems? Gartner, Forrester, ACCENTURE, McKinsey, Booz Allen (Top 3).

What do you see as the role of the book in the modern world of immediate online content? Where an article is an excellent opportunity to share a reflection or an observation the longer book format permit and end to end observation on a subject where a blog post or article would be to short. In my case I have used articles and blog post to reflect on different aspects and deliver them in a crisp format. The articles / blog posts have then been combined with other aspects of the story to form the book. The book can then be delivered in a paper, electronic or audio format. The question is not weather the book is valid as format or not, the challenge is to find writers capable to synthesis the big picture and deliver it in a chewable format and still retain the attention of the reader. But then again this is not only the challenge of the book format where most articles and blog posts are “journalistic sensational” and few address questions where you need to dig in most likely due to the lack of competence / knowledge on the subject hence the social media or cloud, next fad frenzy where few of the “writers” would be able to describe the landscape with ROI to back up the logics of an investment.

All that you would like to know in regards of the “Deliver Business Value with IT” series

What is it about the topic that will get readers excited? After the “how do we align business needs to how IT works” (that is Business IT Alignment) clearly seen in SAP implementations the focus of the CIO need to be on how do we support / “leverage the execution of the business strategy with IT” where the IT Department supports new emerging business initiatives that will eventually form the business strategy as they succeed of fail. That said the IT department has not only the responsibility but should be held accountable for how well they help the business side understand how to leverage existing technology solutions (buy / make) effectively hence the notion of service delivery defined not as basic help desk but as a full fledged business partner and this would include IT Financial Management.

Why do you think this book would be welcomed by potential customers? Deliver Business Value with IT will help the IT Department to move from a mere third party provider of Information Technology to a position of a full fledged business partner with a comprehension of business needs, stakeholder expectations and strategy execution and how to support the latter.

How do you see your book being different from any existing or competing titles? We help the reader evolve from a position of “there are business needs and stakeholder expectations” (see COBIT 5 that is today one of the few IT frameworks that has included the notion “the needs of the business” and stakeholder expectations) to a potential position of a a full fledged business partner with a comprehension of business needs, stakeholder expectations and strategy execution and how to support the latter. For COBIT 5 practintioners the perspective presented in ”Deliver Business Value with IT” pulls the logics presented in COBIT 5 together that you can effectively leverage with the IT Scorecard.

Describe the three most important things you want the reader to have learnt/solved by the end of the book: How to ask the right questions to support the needs of the business (and not sit around to wait for the business strategy to be formalised as this might never happen). Focus on ROI and hands on metrics oriented results that supports business objectives. How to re invent the IT Business Model (that is how do we deliver IT services effectively) and the Business (IT) IT Model / Partership that is how do we support the needs of the business effectively.

Who is the target audience for the book, and what knowledge and skills should they already possess in order to gain maximum benefit from the book? CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, SVP, Architects, Strategy, Business Executives, Procurement professionals and the IT function in general as well ITIL, IT – CMF, CobIT 5 (ValIT, CobIT 4.1, RiskIT), ISO 38 500, TOGAF and ISO 9001, ISO 27 001, COSO) practitioners that are interested in effective IT Strategy and cloud deployment. The material in this book has been derived from best in class practice @ Fortune 500 companies.

Deliver Business Value with IT would particularly be of interest for auditors. Where COBIT 5 (ValIT, CobIT 4.1, RiskIT) provides guidance in the right direction it is imperative for the audit department to provide not only red or green light compliance check list, validate that a process is measured and managed or if IT has a dashboard, but to ensure that business process and notably those of support functions such as IT support new and ongoing business initiatives.